The World War I monument in Agawam Park went up in 1923 to carry the names of Southampton residents who served in that war. For more than a century it has been the setting for the village's Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. Many of those names have now worn down past reading, and the floor of the structure is cracked throughout.
That is where Southampton's November starts. For the first two weeks, the village's institutions honor veterans by name, indoors and away from the park. On the last Saturday of the month, the village marks 25 years in its police building, and then its volunteer fire and EMS crews parade before the tree lighting in Agawam Park. In both halves the month is about service, and in both it comes back to Agawam Park.
The Monument Has Its Money. The Work Comes Next.
The restoration is mostly paid for. In a 27east report on the funding, Mayor Bill Manger called a $675,000 New York State grant "a great Christmas present for the village." The state had turned down the village's first application. The second one came with a letter-writing campaign in which residents explained why the memorial mattered to them.
Local fundraising brought in slightly more than $500,000. That total includes $129,500 from the Southampton Association and $100,000 from a fundraiser held by Robert Giuffra, who started savetheshwwimemorial.com and a social media campaign behind it. The project is estimated at $1.2 million, so the grant and local gifts together come close. Manger said the village was "probably a little bit short still" and expected to cover the rest with more donations and money in the next village budget.
The plan covers three things: repairing the floor, renovating the flat roof, and restoring the names. The most recent restorations were finished in 2013. The State Historic Preservation Office has to approve the proposed changes before work starts. At the time of that report, the village had fenced the monument and was keeping people off it. Manger told 27east:
"We'd really like to get started in 2026, because the sooner we start, [the sooner] we can stop the deterioration."
The Village's Fall 2026 newsletter gives the most recent update. It says the monument "will begin to see the much-needed repairs and restoration," and that the village ran a Request for Proposal process to choose a contractor at the best price. In other words, the repair is still ahead, and the names on the monument are still in the shape the mayor described.
On Meeting House Lane, the Names Are Easy to Read
While the monument waits, the Southampton History Museum has put out a set of veterans' names you can read. Its pop-up show, Artifacts of Honor: Veterans' Uniforms & More, fills the museum at 17 Meeting House Lane with military memorabilia, personal items and memoirs from its own collections.
The items cover several wars:
- The cap of Civil War veteran Alonzo Foster
- The uniform of World War I veteran Leland Burnett
- World War II uniforms of Staff Sergeant Noel E. Hare, U.S. Marine Corps; Chief Petty Officer Robert Smith, U.S. Navy; and Staff Sergeant Reginald H. Korte, U.S. Army
Leland Burnett's uniform is the closest link between the museum and the park. The monument was built to honor World War I service like his, and his name is easy to read in the museum while the names in Agawam Park wait for restoration.
The show is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on its remaining dates: Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 5 to 7, then Wednesday through Saturday, Nov. 11 to 14. One of those dates is Veterans Day itself.
The museum's collection grew in October. On Oct. 13, David Wobst presented his family's donation at the Rogers Mansion, followed by a reception with the Wobst family. According to an announcement of the gift, the donation includes World War II uniforms and artifacts from three Southampton brothers who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. They were David's father, George, and his uncles Hans and Heinz. George was an aircraft-engine mechanic on Guam. Hans was a B-17 ball-turret gunner who received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Heinz was a B-25 radio operator who died in the Pacific in 1944. The gift also includes the Vietnam-era uniform of Hans's son, Floyd.
One family's gift covers two generations and two wars. That is the history the museum keeps in Southampton, and the restored monument will show it too once its names are legible again.
Nov. 8: The Stories Get Told Out Loud on Jobs Lane
At the Southampton Arts Center, veterans' stories are told in person. Honoring Veterans by Sharing Their Stories runs Sunday, Nov. 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. at 25 Jobs Lane. The program opens with three short films from the USA Warrior Archive. A Q&A follows with Susan E. Soto, John Melillo and Sandy Raynor, daughter of Arthur Muller, moderated by USA Warrior Stories founders Matt Hindra and Nick Kraus. The event is free, and registration is through the Arts Center's event page.
The two events fit into one weekend. See the uniforms at the museum on Saturday the 7th, and hear the stories at the arts center on Sunday the 8th.
Nov. 11: The Walk to Agawam Park
Veterans Day falls on a Wednesday this year. The village's annual parade and service have usually ended at the monument. Last year, the East End Beacon reported that Southampton's Veterans Day Parade and Service would step off at 10:45 a.m. from Southampton Presbyterian Church and go down Jobs Lane to a ceremony at Agawam Park. The 2025 guest speaker was Joan A. Furey, a former U.S. Army nurse. The 2026 timing and speaker have not been announced yet, so check with the Village before you go.
Look at the monument while you're there. It has hosted these ceremonies for more than 100 years, and the next stage of its restoration is the one that will make the names readable again.
The Weeks Between, on the Cultural Center's Calendar
Between the veterans' events and the holidays, the Southampton Cultural Center and the arts center fill out the month. These dates are listed now:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 6, 5–7 p.m. | Artists' reception, Southampton Artists Association fall exhibition | Southampton Cultural Center |
| Nov. 6–15 | Southampton Artists Association exhibition; Fri.–Sat. noon–6 p.m., Sun. noon–4 p.m. | Southampton Cultural Center |
| Nov. 7 and 8, 6 p.m. | Ed German's Deep Down in Brooklyn | Southampton Cultural Center |
| Nov. 14 | Pianist Huiping Cai, Liliane Questel Recital Series | Southampton Cultural Center |
| Fri.–Sun., noon–5 p.m., through Dec. 27 | East End Collected 9 | Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane |
| Nov. 20–Dec. 13 | A Colonial Christmas, Boots on the Ground Theater Company | Southampton Cultural Center |
A Colonial Christmas connects to the month's theme. The Village newsletter describes it as a time-travel comedy that drops a modern family into George Washington's camp on Christmas Eve, 1776. Its run starts the week of Thanksgiving, as the village calendar shifts from remembrance to the holidays.
Nov. 28: A Police Building Anniversary, Then Fire and EMS on Parade
The month ends with another kind of service. In the Fall 2026 newsletter, the mayor announced a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the police building on Windmill Lane, which also houses the Village Court. The police moved there from the upper floors of Village Hall 25 years ago. The ceremony is set for Saturday, Nov. 28, just before the Parade of Lights and the tree lighting, and the mayor asked residents to mark their calendars for both.
The Parade of Lights is built around the village's volunteer fire and EMS departments, and their decorated vehicles make up the parade. The Southampton Christmas Decorations Committee lists the evening this way:
- 4:30 p.m., at dusk: Parade of Lights, with decorated vehicles from the volunteer Fire and EMS departments
- 5:30 p.m.: Tree lighting ceremony in Agawam Park, with holiday songs by Southampton High School's Voices of Southampton
- After the lighting: Fireworks
- Through the evening: Holiday window decorations along the village streets
The tree lighting takes place in Agawam Park, where the Veterans Day service also ends.
That weekend, the Southampton History Museum's Carriage Thrift Shop opens for holiday shopping Nov. 27 through 29. The museum's veterans pop-up will be closed by then, but the collection it came from stays on Meeting House Lane.
Southampton's civic calendar, from the Agawam Park ceremonies to the museum's growing collection, is part of what makes a village address worth having. If you're thinking about a home within walking distance of these traditions, or want to know how a property near the village center is positioned today, Jennifer Friedberg can help. Schedule a private consultation.
